QT Gold Coast

The QT logo looms over the quieter end of Surfers Paradise as we exit the more densely built up quarter of Party Town and head towards Main Beach. Pulling up at the hotel, there’s plenty to make Mrs Smith and I happy; the retro panel van parked out front, pastel fixed-gear bikes, beautiful hardwood floors, digital art installations in the lobby and gleaming white Gold Coast smiles to welcome us. The fit-out feels like entering a funked-up beach house or a Palm Springs country club – an impressive achievement for the clever QT team given the building’s fairly nondescript shell.

Our swanky QT King Suite boasts incredible Surfers Paradise beach views framed by floaty, pale curtains. White rules the roost, from the walls to the enormous bed, dozens of soft towels and kitchen area (there’s a lot of white!), contrasted with fabulous bright colour swatches, screen-printed lampshades and the distinctive QT black-and-white striped bathroom. Not being super-slick at articulating design critiques, I label the look ‘fresh’. Mrs Smith is unimpressed by my interiors punditry, so I move on, admiring the ‘boxing-style’ bathrobe.

Sniffing out an early shopping opportunity like the pro that she is, Mrs Smith instinctively notices the price list for the in-room accessories in the nano-second I spend innocently perusing the nicely stocked minibar. There isn’t much that she doesn't want to take home (her Sauron-like eye fixing especially on the cockatoo bedside light), which has me worried when she also speedily locates the QTique gift shop.

‘That'll be $30,’ the concierge quips with a wink as I collect swimming towels from his hub in the heart of the lobby – a sense of fun that matches his uniform of Hawaiian-print Bermuda shorts paired with a pinstripe blazer and canvas shoes. His desk is surrounded by iPads loaded with up-to-the-minute QT Gold Coast apps to make all manner of things happen (first up for us is table reservations at Bazaar, the main hotel eatery). We definitely put the cheeky chap and his jumpsuited female colleague to work; car hire, directions, travel advice, activities and restaurant bookings all too easy for the ever-efficient QT concierge team. They get everything spot-on.

Speaking of Bazaar, it's a real gem. Doubling up to provide the QT's super-charged breakfast and dinner buffets, it's a sleek room with attentive and genuine service and a variety of inventive food stations. ‘Buffet’ seems like the wrong description when the standard and selection of food is this great. At breakfast think fresh and healthy 'daily juices', eggs galore, freshly made pancakes and mueslis, and that’s only the half of it. Dinner caters to in-the-know (and fairly glammed-up) locals as well as in-house guests and features quality, well-cooked produce with a twist of fun. The drinks list is good, and Mrs Smith benefits from a number of wines being offered by the carafe, glass or bottle, meaning I don’t have to railroad her into red when she really wants white.

Checking out the signature facials at SpaQ the next morning, Mrs Smith is in heaven. On the mezzanine level, the spa smells amazing and delivers pampering treatments with top products and professional staff. Mrs S also gives herself plenty of time to make use of the hammam (free to SpaQ customers), and returns to the room in a very relaxed state of mind – ready for a lazy lunch and a glass or two of rosé at the hotel’s Stingray bar.

Small but perfectly formed, the QT pool stars a swim-up bar that’s open in the warmer seasons and a shallow splash pool for the kids. Even in mid-winter, it isn’t too cool to keep me out. The hotel is only a block or so away from the slightly more chilled northern part of Surfers Paradise beach. Despite the highest tide of the year, the beach is in truly pristine condition, and the boardwalk makes for a fantastic stroll (or power-walk if that takes your fancy) into the town centre. If we were staying longer, we would take those ‘fixies’ out for a cruise.

Hire-car delivered, we cruise through Surfers Paradise in glorious sunshine with the windows down and Bruno Mars full volume on the stereo. After a local drive-about and a couple of laps (I’m blaming the new road layout) of the kilometres of white sand and tempting barrels, we head back to the QT to get ready for our departure. Parking the Corolla next to their pimped panel van, Mrs Smith reflects on our short stay: lots of fun in a stylish hotel that doesn’t take itself too seriously.